In this episode of In the Course of Human Events, historians from Monticello's Getting Word African American Oral History Project share the recent rediscovery of Robert Hemmings’s signature, a revelation confirming the literacy and the agency of the man that Thomas Jefferson enslaved as his valet. As a teenage boy, Hemmings was at Jefferson's side in Philadelphia when he wrote the Declaration of Independence, and later gained his own freedom, becoming the first of very few to be freed by Jefferson. Listen as Andrew Davenport, Aurianna Woods, and Bernetiae Reed discuss this discovery and describe the life of Robert Hemmings whose story inspired “Descendants of Monticello,” a new exhibition that recently opened at Independence National Historical Park's Declaration House in Philadelphia, PA. By moving Hemmings to the center of this moment in history, this project explores the entangled legacies of freedom and enslavement at the core of our nation’s founding. Since 1993, the Getting Word African American Oral History Project has collected and preserved the oral histories of Monticello’s enslaved community and their descendants, creating an archive of freedom and a fuller story of Monticello and the United States. Getting Word and other staff from the Thomas Jefferson Foundation worked with Monument Lab, the National Park Service, and other organizations to present “Descendants of Monticello,” which was conceived and developed by artist Sonya Clark.

Years after her death, Thomas Jefferson described his marriage to his wife, Martha, as ten years spent "in unchequered happiness. And w hile the historical evidence draws a portrait of strong mutual affection, Martha Jefferson's life had its share of tribulation and tragedy. In this episode of "In the Course of Human Events, we look at Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson, a woman long viewed almost entirely through the lens of her husband, but was in reality a remarkable person in her own right.

He captured the imagination of the Virginia elite on the eve of the American Revolution with a tale of education in Constantinople, capture by pirates, sale into slavery in New Orleans, escape into the Virginia wilderness, and conversion from Islam to Christianity. Listen as Martin Clagett, author of "Scientific Jefferson: Revealed," presents the oft-repeated—but sometimes hard to verify—story of Selim the Algerian and his difficult journeys back and forth between two continents. Co-hosts David Thorson and Jacqueline Langholtz join in and discuss themes of survival, culture, and identity highlighted through the lens of Selim's remarkable life.

It was meant to be a spectacle. And it was. But not in the way intended. In this episode, author and historian Eliga Gould tells the incredible story of Charles Willson Peale's Triumphal Arch, built to celebrate the 1783 Treaty of Paris, which officially ended the American Revolution and established international recognition of the United States as a new nation. Monticello's Gaye Wilson and Hannah Zimmerman join our look into this pivotal yet often forgotten moment in American history, where art, celebration, and tragedy intertwined.

Who was Benjamin Banneker? Scientist, clockmaker, Assistant to the Surveyor of Washington, DC, creator of bestselling almanacs, and possibly the first African American to publicly challenge Jefferson on the topics of slavery, race, and equality. In this episode of In the Course of Human Events, we look letters at Banneker and Jefferson exchanged in 1791 and consider how the problem of slavery prevented these individuals with so much in common from forming a friendship.

He challenged President Washington’s authority. He lied to Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson. He outfitted privateer ships in American ports and sent them to attack British shipping. He was a diplomat who was almost anything but diplomatic. Meet Edmound Charles Genet, the French envoy who nearly brought the young United States back into a war with Great Britain. In this episode of "In the Course of Human Events," Lindsay Chervinsky, presidential historian and author of "The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution," tells the story of the Genet Affair, from Genet's triumphant arrival in South Carolina to his ignominious recall, with help from Gary Sandling of Colonial Williamsburg and Monticello guide David Thorson

Late in life, on either side of his 80th birthday, Thomas Jefferson had two bad falls. Both were serious, and one was life-threatening. And both provide glimpses into Jefferson’s character and into the many roles his family, his friends, and his enslaved domestic servants played in his life. In this episode of our In the Course of Human Events podcast, Jeff Looney, the Daniel P. Jordan Editor of the "Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Retirement Series at Monticello," tells the story of when Jefferson broke his arm and later nearly drowned while riding with a still-healing fracture. Papers editor Lisa Francavilla and Monticello archaeologist Derek Wheeler listen in and add details and background.

Enslaved people did not simply accept the confines of their bondage, and resistance took many forms. An example is found in the story of York, a young man enslaved at Monticello who attempted to escape in 1798. It was only after York fled that Thomas Jefferson learned from his son-in-law, Thomas Mann Randolph, that the teenager successfully accessed Jefferson’s bedchamber and took several personal items including books, clothing, and a firearm. If written documents—in this instance, letters between Jefferson and Randolph—are the only sources considered, a narrow picture of this event emerges: enslaved person steals from their master. But there is far more to this story. Learn more in the latest episode of our new podcast series, “In the Course of Human Events,” featuring Monticello’s own Steve Light, Brandon Dillard, and Holly Halliniewski.

In late May 1806, three of Richmond’s best doctors rushed to the home of George Wythe—a prominent judge, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and Thomas Jefferson’s long-time mentor and dear friend. The physicians discovered Wythe bedridden, in agonizing pain. The cause? Poison. The likely culprit? Wythe’s own nephew. In this latest episode of our “In the Course of Human Events” podcast, Monticello Guide David Thorson—with help from colleagues Melanie Bowyer and Carrie Soubra—shares this harrowing tale of debt, greed, racism, and death.

Before photography, when portrait painting remained expensive but technology was changing how people saw the world, silhouettes – the shadow-like images created from projections and paper – were having a moment. A craze, in fact. Affordable, reproducible, and surprisingly faithful, silhouettes served as valued reminders of friends, family, and loved ones, and Jefferson displayed several at Monticello. Hoping to take advantage of a growing market, renowned portraitist, Charles Willson Peale, used a newly-invented device to simplify their production. Peale hoped his silhouette-making service would attract visitors to his private museum in Philadelphia, PA, driving revenue from both sales and admission. But it was perhaps his young enslaved servant Moses Williams, who learned to operate the new machine and took a cut (so to speak) from each sale, that profited most, using his income to buy his freedom and build a livelihood and a home.

In 1924 Monticello’s new owners began the process of restoring the gardens Jefferson had designed for his mountaintop home. But after a century of differing uses—and sometimes outright neglect—by various owners and caretakers, very little evidence remained of Jefferson’s original plans and plantings. It was a daunting task, and it could have ended quite differently were it not for the perseverance, personalities, and ingenuity of several individuals committed to restoring Jefferson’s vision. In this episode of our “In the Course of Human Events” podcast, Monticello’s Curator of Plants, Peggy Cornett—with help from colleagues Monticello Senior Historian Ann Lucas and guide Elizabeth Lukas—tells the story of how two relatively young organizations, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation and the Garden Club of Virginia, worked together to restore Jefferson’s unique vision for his flower gardens and laid the groundwork for future historic landscape restoration projects at Monticello and elsewhere across the United States.